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Dec 6, 2023
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Uploaded by ColonelBee295
Hunt 1
Marisela Hunt
STM- 101.150
September 11, 2022
Climatology Technology: Carbon Capture Utilization & Storage
Hunt 2
What is carbon capture? Does it affect the environment in a negative way, or does it help?
Will carbon capture offset the increasing demand on our natural resources? Can it fall short?
What will be the impact of carbon capture in the future?
The idea to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) was first thought of in North America back in
the 1970s and focused on processes that would use concentrated streams to remove the carbon
dioxide. It was first called enhanced oil recovery and was later rebranded as “carbon capture
utilization and storage” and was known as a climate friendly process. To this day carbon capture
is essential to removing CO2 and has been redesigned to capture and concentrate it by using the
pre-combustion and post-combustion carbon capture and storage process. An article (An article
(University of Aberdeen, 2018) was written by the University of Aberdeen about a special report
reading, that in order to achieve NetZero targets (the balance between the amount of greenhouse
gases produced and the amount that is removed from the atmosphere) and limit global warming
to 1.5 Celsius, without catastrophic social and economic change, then carbon capture utilization
and storage is required if we are to keep using fossil fuels.
All in all, capture basically is a collection of technologies that can fight climate change
by reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Doing research, I found that the idea is that carbon can be
processed and used in manufacturing and can be stored in geological formations. For that to
happen, carbon dioxide must be captured from gas emitted by burning fossil fuels for more
energy. It can also be captured by generating electricity, emissions from cement, hydrogen in
petrochemical manufacturing or metal refining. For the process, most carbon capture and storage
projects use a liquid to remove the carbon dioxide before it ends up in a smoke shack. It will then
be transported through a pipeline to a storage site, and then. It will be pumped down into a well
that is 2500 feet deep.
Hunt 3
We must store carbon dioxide underground because we emit so much of it into the air,
that if carbon capture is to work in fighting against climate change, this is the best process. The
main use for today is to help wells flush out hard to extract oil, and pure carbon dioxide (CO2) is
used in greenhouses to grow plants. But for us to compensate for hard to be limit greenhouse gas
emissions, more carob dioxide must be removed from the atmosphere and stored. We can remove
it from the atmosphere and store it in trees, vegetation, soils, etc.
Greenhouse gases and carbon capture utilization and storage are linked to natural capital
including bedrock geology, soils, and biodiversity in combinations with engineering skills and
technology that is critical to global warming NetZero targets. (University of Aberdeen, 2018).
Many low carbon renewable energy technologies use a large land area, and this has a significant
impact on natural capital and land use emissions. Like before, carbon capture is essential to
limiting global warming, but it is a problematic technology. A study reviewed (Robertson, B.
2022, September) the capacity and performance of 13 Flagship carbon capture projects, and they
learned that 10 out of the 13 had failed or under performed against their design capacities.
Apart from carbon projects failing, carbon capture in power plants has a track record of
technical failures since 2000. Even though we pump the carbon dioxide into wells, there is no
certainty that it will stay underground and not leak into the atmosphere. There are many projects
in work to improve the carbon capture utilization and storage process, but a good example of
failure is the California Aliso Canyon gas leak in 2015.
(Robertson, B. 2022, September). It was
known as the worse man-made greenhouse disaster inn United Staes history, when 97,000 metric
tons of methane leaked into the atmosphere. It may have been methane, and not a CO2 leak, but
gas reservoirs and depleted oil reservoirs are used to store captured carbon dioxide (CO2). I
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Hunt 4
believe that carbon capture utilization and storage can fall short in some cases, as shown, and it
can sometimes offset the increasing demands on our resources.
Yes, carbon capture and storage is the largest technology with the ability to capture
carbon dioxide, but there have been other cases where the standards of carbon capture have been
questioned, especially on ethical and practical grounds. Ethical grounds on carbon capture and
storage need more insight, while practical grounds have been looked into more because of the
real-life events, like climate change that are happening now.
There are plenty of benefits that come with carbon capture over other types of removal
technology. Carbon capture utilization and storage biggest advantage is the ability to capture and
then permanently store carbon dioxide in geological formations. Another example of an
advantage is that carbon capture utilization and storage can reduce the social cost of carbon. The
social cost of carbon is a dollar value of the estimated costs and benefits to society from climate
change that is caused by only one extra metric ton of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere
in a year. Some examples of social costs, from other carbon dioxide emissions could be things
like damage from hurricanes and adverse effects on human health. A benefit could be the
increase in overall productivity in the agricultural sector, and even by removing CO2 directly
from the source, net damages to society could be decreased.
Even with the advantages to reduce the carob dioxide that is emitted into the air, there are
many disadvantages that still need to be worked out. Like, the cost of carbon capture utilization
and storage is too high, long-term storage capacity for carbon dioxide is uncertain, the transport,
and storage sites can be dangerous, and another disadvantage could be that using carbon capture
for oil recovery could defeat the purpose.
Hunt 5
The United States and European Union are using tax credits and trading systems to
incentivize carbon capture. For this, in the first in history, CC is not only feasible, but it is also
commercially viable. In today’s times, humankind captures only 40 million tons of carbon
dioxide per year. The only way to meet the climate change goals in the United States and around
the world, would be to increase that number to nearly 5.6 billion tons per year by 2050. The best
opportunity would be Nascent Hydrogen economy, because it does not emit carbon dioxide when
its burned. Using hydrogen to replace natural gases for heating up a building and oil for fueling
vehicles can reduce climate impact. But while burning hydrogen will not create harmful
emissions, creating it can. If the carbon dioxide emissions generated through the production of
hydrogen can be captured and sequestered, hydrogen can be generated and used without CO2
emissions creating a breakthrough process that could have a great impact on climate recovery.
Carbon capture is essential to reducing climate change, saving the earth and its resources.
It can affect the environment in a negative way, but it can work when the process is good for the
environment and our improvement of life. If we do not pay attention to the amount of gasses we
emit into the air and how much we put into the earth, it can offset the increasing demand on
natural resources, and even though carbon capture utilization and storage can fall short, it is the
best step for the future.
Hunt 6
Bibliography/ Citations
Anderson, D. (2019, February) Carbon Capture: Natural Solutions
.
https://www.chooseenergy.com/news/article/carbon-capture-natural-solutions/
Bowe, A. (2022 September) Location, location, location: the key to carbon disposal
https://www.woodmac.com/horizons/location-location-location-the-key-to-carbon-disposal/
Davies, L. et al. "Understanding Barriers to Commercial-Scale Carbon Capture and
Sequestration in the United States: An Empirical Assessment."
Evans, M. (2021, September) Carbon capture and storage: how far can costs fall?
https://www.woodmac.com/news/opinion/carbon-capture-and-storage-how-far-can-costs-fall/
Herzog. H (2020, September) Carbon Capture
https://climate.mit.edu/explainers/carbon-capture
Rhode, E. (2021, August) Carbon Capturre and Storage: Pros and Cons
https://www.treehugger.com/carbon-capture-and-storage-ccs-pros-and-cons-5120005
Robertson, B (2022, September) Carbon capture has a long history of failure.
https://thebulletin.org/2022/09/plagued-by-failures-carbon-capture-is-no-climate-solution/
UK, Sky. (2017, October). Climate change: Seven technology solutions that could help solve
crisis.
https://news.sky.com/story/climate-change-seven-technology-solutions-that-could-help-
solve-crisis-12056397
University of Aberdeen. (2018). Carbon Capture and Natural Capital
.
https://www.abdn.ac.uk/energy/projects/carbon-capture-and-natural-capital-280.php
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